Welcome to this month's newsletter! Each month, I try to share what I've been up to, what things I've published that month, and exciting news if there's any to be shared.
Why are people transphobic? Are they born that way, or does it develop over time? Is it culturally transmitted? And if we understand how transphobia arises, can we come up with more effective ways to counteract it? Perhaps most importantly, does the scientific data change the stories we tell ourselves about the world we live in?
Telling stories is about far more than the sharing of words from one soul to another. How can we embrace the innate powers of storytelling and make it another tool for nourishing ourselves? Let’s take a look.
In the first two weeks of April, I went hardcore into finding different ways to brace my hands, taking better care of them, taking better care of my entire body, and prioritizing many kinds of rest. The situation also finally pushed me to really learn how to use voice commands, dictation, and AI to support my writing processes.
This is an interview with poet and literary critic Stephanie Burt about her newest book, Super Gay Poems: LGBTQIA+ Poetry after Stonewall. On top of being a writer, critic, Harvard professor, and all-around literary star, Stephanie is also a close friend. She is a companion in all things nerdy and trans, and I enjoyed the chance to ask her some questions about this exciting book.
Before Penny Mickelbury became the author of 17 novels and a short story collection, she and I worked together at the LGBTQ newspaper in Minneapolis for about a year in the 1990s. Penny‘s latest novel, Payback, is an important addition to LGBTQ historical works and I’m excited to interview her about it.
This month we released our first new hub page, this one on Queer and Trans Literature. It contains resources about the importance of LGBTQ+ lit, reading recommendations, and more. These hub pages are living documents, and we will update them as needed. So if you have suggestions for the page, please contact us to let us know!
This divide would continue within me for years, serving as a barrier to my full access of the Tarot’s knowledge. Until, a couple years ago, I received Erin Morgenstern’s Phantomwise Tarot. This deck helped me reconcile my transness with the esoteric mysteries of the Tarot, and has deepened my relationship with my other decks.
But we don’t want to just be here—we want to connect, protect, enjoy, appreciate. We want to move beyond survival and start to flourish. If it feels good to you, add a piece of queer/trans culture to your day today.
We are both working on even more resources and ways to help folks thrive during the next four years and beyond. Next month we should start rolling out new hub pages, so stay tuned for more information on those sometime in March!